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0e1f616
(Get the code!)
@Bazon
Thanks! As I keep trying to emphasize, I did not open this bug because I think Unity is bad, nor because I want Unity to be something that's it not supposed to be, nor because I'm unaware that there are many other terrific free software alternative, in Ubuntu and beyond.
This bug is not about the software. This bug is about making the Unity project more welcoming -- or at least less alienating. Too many people feel that Unity has been shoved down their throats. Too many people feel that they have been tricked into being beta testers. Too many people feel that their legitimate complaints, suggestions and even patches are unwelcome. Too many people, who have devoted years of "outsider" effort to promote Ubuntu are feeling like Ubuntu is treating them more as a nuisance than a boon.
Mark keeps listing the very convincing reasons for all of this, that are beyond Ubuntu's control: it's not Ubuntu's fault that GNOME 3 did not offer a GNOME-2-like fallback experience at the same time as Oneiric came out; Ubuntu can't please everyone and Unity must remain focused in order to maintain quality moving forward; there's simply not enough time to answer every single complaint. That's all true. But it doesn't make our sense of alienation any less legitimate.
On the other hand, it may not be Ubuntu's responsibility to fix this situation. Moreover, the sad fact may be that it's just not a priority: perhaps we, a few loudly unhappy members of the Ubuntu community, are deemed expendable. At the time of this writing, this bug is still marked "new," "unassigned" and of "undecided" importance. I'm sure we're just counting the days until it is closed as "won't fix."
Oh, well. I'm willing to admit that I'm blowing a lot of hot air here over nothing at all. This might just be a time of difficult (and necessary?) transition, and by 12.04 Ubuntu will ship to broad popular enthusiasm on all fronts: from people who have never been exposed to free software and are delighted by the purple-and-orange wonder, and from us old fuddy duddies who learned to use a mouse with Windows 95 and refuse to change our crochety habits. ;)